If you’re going to post content on your site anyway, you might as well take the time to make sure google takes notice of your effort. – The Content Factory
In the most recent entry of our Thoughtful blog, we discussed the significance of search engine optimization (SEO) and offered some advice on how to find words that can be used in your profiles to enhance both your social media and overall online presence.
We will continue the SEO conversation in today’s post, specifically focusing on building your SEED list. Initially, businesses used SEED lists to store partners’ and clients’ contact information to keep them updated; however, you want to employ that same process and create a list to store your keywords. And here’s why.
Often, businesses will only use SEO to promote a single product, idea, or campaign. The consequence of doing so is that it causes missed opportunities for them to boost both their brand and their online business presence.
For example, think of a business owner who owns a newsletter agency, and poetry is one of his hobbies. Since newsletters and poetry share a similar category (communication), the CEO can further promote his business by using his business keywords in his poetry. Of course, the keywords do not need to be directly included in the poetry; however, if he were to use those exact keywords to create a promotional post on his personal social media page, the search engine algorithm would recognize the consistent use of words and rank his online presence higher. This is called Off-page SEO but more on that in a later post!
Building Your Seed List Pre Steps
Thought #1 - Figure Out Your Ideal Audience
Once you have determined who they are, you are ready to start your keyword search. You want to concentrate your search on the issues that you are attempting to resolve for them, and you want to find words that are tailored to their needs!
Thought #2 - Research Your “Competition.”
After you’ve come up with keywords, search those keywords on a private browser (e.g., Chrome’s incognito mode). This lets you see which sites currently rank in the top results for a keyword or combination, which will help you to understand and determine your online competition.
Pro Tip: Only do this to find ideas and inspiration, do not copy other organizations’ keywords. You will harm your ranking by copying keywords as search engines filter for duplicate words/services, etc. Another downside is that your business will diminish its uniqueness– so it’s in your best interest to avoid doing this at all costs!
Thought #3 - Define Your Goals
After determining the most effective keywords for your business, consider your measurable business goals (e.g., increase your email list, have more people buy a specific product, etc.). Then, determine what keywords will help you meet these goals.
Thought #4 - What We Recommend
Since we have just gone over the significance of a seed list, we strongly suggest that you keep track of your keywords using either a Google excel sheet or Microsoft Word. We also recommend that you use those keywords as much as possible regardless if it’s a personal or business post-- you want to ensure you catch the algorithm’s attention! You should also conduct keyword research for any hobby or interest that may align with your career or business, and you should use those keywords throughout all of your platforms.
See below for a simple way to store your keywords using excel and field definitions.
*Expand the picture to see all fields.*
Field Definitions
Average monthly search: The average number of times people search for a keyword and similar terms based on the month range, the location, and your Search Network settings. This information shows how popular your keywords are during different times of the year. This range is averaged over 12 months.
Competition: shows how competitive ad placement is for a keyword specific to the location and Search Network targeting options you’ve selected. The level of competition—low, medium, or high— is determined by the number of advertisers bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google.
Top-of-page bid (low range): shows the lower range of what advertisers have historically paid for a keyword’s top-of-page bid, based on your location and Search Network settings. The average CPC of your keywords may vary.
Top-of-page bid (high range): shows the higher range of what advertisers have historically paid for a keyword’s top-of-page bid, based on your location and Search Network settings. The average CPC of your keywords may vary.
Final Thought
Building a SEED list is an integral part of your SEO campaign. When we say words matter, they truly do. When it comes to Google and other search engines, having good SEO can mean the difference between your website being found on the first page and not being found at all. In the next post, we will discuss the importance of technical metrics, what they mean, and how they tie in with your SEO research and Seed List!
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